Smith/Kotzen, Vieira and The Silvers, London 2026

It’s the last night of the UK leg of the Smith/Kotzen tour in the UK at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. Until the last two dates Kris Barras supported, but unfortunately he fell ill mid tour. Notices on the doors tell people that tonight’s support slot will be filled by Vieira and The Silvers, a new band on me – Hit or Miss?

I am delighted to report a hit!! They are a young band in their twenties and thirties. Diogo Vieira da Silva frontman and founder has a completely off beat style that is instantly both classically wildly Rock ‘n’ Roll, but also completely individual in the same way there’s no mistaking Mick Jagger’s gait and dance style as anyone’s other than his own.

If Vieira isn’t on something, and he seems perfectly coherent when he speaks between songs, he should probably never, ever, take anything ever. He gurns and makes faces, climbs up his mike stand like a monkey, hangs his arms out and over and slides through his notes with a whine-y tone, his expressive face suggesting he is reliving stories in his mind and ultimately making him compelling viewing.

His George Best haircut gives the clue that the bands inspiration is the 70s and their material rocks – a mixture of Blues Rock and psychedelia with big riffs and distortion (Nirvana, of course, having left nothing untouched). Within one song the band had won the Empire over. With lyrics like ‘I’m Gonna Make A Change … but maybe tomorrow” it’s both Rock ‘n’ Roll and relatable.

They’re from London and confide, having stepped in last minute, they had to buy a drum kit for this gig when they were unable to borrow one and so need people to buy t-shirts!! They also confide they have never played for so many people before. The crowd are with them as underdogs and soon are cheering loudly between songs. Emboldened by the reaction da Silva is swinging the mike stand around by the end of their seven song set and using pauses to great effect like Tim Curry in the Rocky Horror show. All eyes were glued to him throughout the set, and that people is a frontman’s job. Something tells me I haven’t heard the last of this band.

Smith/Kotzen look energised and ready to conquer the crowd tonight, the tour is going well and the presence of the ever smiley Julia Lage, Richie’s wife is like a beautiful calming female yin to the massive amount of yang you get on stage when two titanic guitar giants share the stage.

The energy between the two front men is also wonderful, interacting as friends, not rivals, they share guitar and vocal duties and there’s no sense at all they are trying to out do each other, working together in their craft for the very best show.

As Richie says they are stoked to finally bring the material from last year’s ‘Black Light, White Noise’ album and the set list speaks volumes since we get a whopping seven tracks from it. It really is a Smith/Kotzen gig too. Apart from two tracks at the end referencing the main men’s other bands, the other tracks are from the self titled first album or their ‘Better Days’ E.P. with no random covers. The band are visibly enjoying the vibe which comes through in their smoochy sashaying: they really are getting down to this material and, of course, this translates through to the crowd who sense the authenticity and joy behind everything.

The class and talent of this band are a given, it literally being a supergroup including two huge luminaries of the Rock world. They wear this mantle easily though, having so much fun. While Kotzen is known for his Blues Rock he has produced albums in many genres, but for Smith it is a real departure from his main gig  ‘Iron Maiden’. As such, he clearly is able to relax into it as something different from his norm.

Things did not go smoothly throughout as, apparently, the bass rig and the back up failed. We had a couple of minutes break in the middle while another rig was brought on. However, if anything, following this the band came on with more passion and fire, determined that nothing was going to spoil this night with Smith demonstrably grabbing his noggin’ and just when you thought Kotzen couldn’t get any more notes in per second he does! Smith declares “Never been so happy to hear a bass guitar!” And as Richie points out “hey it’s real! It’s live! That’s what happens!” No need to worry – the rest of the gig went without a hitch.

It has not escaped anyone’s attention that Bruce Dickinson has been watching the gig from the balcony or that he has now disappeared.

Smith refers to wild rumours that they may have a special guest and when Dickinson comes on for the Maiden track ‘Wasted Years’ the place explodes. Only having camera privileges for the first three songs we could not shoot Bruce, but we have managed to source an I Phone photo for you because it is certainly true that a picture paints a million words.

But things are not over!! There’s an encore and they proceed to play one of my favourite songs ever, the Kotzen solo song ‘You Can’t Save Me’ unsurprisingly sung solely by Kotzen in his inimitable style. Everyone’s singing the words and the high from the Maiden song continues. The final track was appropriately Smith Kotzen, ‘Solar Fire’ from the first album.

A classy night from a classy band! It had it all superb playing, great songs, Rock Royalty and they even managed to add the community service of introducing an up and coming band to a packed audience likely to love them, and even if that was an accident they made the effort last minute to fill the bill with another great band.  As he left Smith apologised again for the technical difficulties. Sir, with everything on offer, we didn’t even notice!

Dawn Osborne: Text and Photos from the pit

Neil Jones:I Phone shot